Jason Harris founded Jerome Baker Designs Inc. (JBD) in Eugene, Oregon, in 1991. As a dyed-in-the-wool deadhead with THC pumping through his veins, he chose Jerry Garcia’s first name, Jerome, and a last name, Baker, to denote “baked” as his pseudonym, fearing repercussions from cops.
Through the years, he elevated the form of functional glass art, incorporating innovations along the way, such as fuming glass with fine silver to create a mirror effect and manipulating blown glass into complex art. The JBD seal became a symbol of quality. But, despite his efforts to stay off the radar of police, he caught the attention of the federal government.
“I was arrested for manufacturing drug paraphernalia in 2003,” Harris says, referring to Operation Pipe Dreams, a George W. Bush administration-era DEA hunt that also involved Tommy Chong and 54 other defendants.
High Times Magazine, March 2024
Pipe sellers who never touched the plant initially faced drug paraphernalia trafficking charges, and the feds pinned most of it on Chong. Scarred from that trauma, Harris laid low, first moving from Oregon to Maui, Hawaii, to make non-functional glass art for a while, and later New York.
“I kind of went underground for a while, and we were based in New York on Long Island,” he says. “We had a warehouse out there that we functioned out of—a small, nickel-and-dime business. When recreational cannabis happens, we sort of come out of the closet. And when I saw the money and energy and everything going on in the Las Vegas market, I called that home base.”
After seeing Colorado and Washington approve adult-use pot and learning that recreational cannabis legalization was possible, Harris gained confidence and re-launched Jerome Baker Designs in 2012, re-focusing on high-end art. Jerome Baker established the Las Vegas Dream Factory at its headquarters in downtown …
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Author: Benjamin M. Adams / High Times
